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Jil Sander, Telfar, and Random Identities at Pitti Uomo

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  • Ahimsa
    Vegan Police
    • Sep 2011
    • 1879

    Jil Sander, Telfar, and Random Identities at Pitti Uomo

    by Eugene Rabkin

    "Florence, Italy – As a reader of this magazine you may not be familiar with Pitti Uomo, the largest menswear trade show in the world that takes place in Florence twice a year, right before the Milan fashion week. As a matter of fact, “What are you doing here?” is the most common question I get from people who are used to my writing about the fashion avant-garde. What I’m doing here is my journalistic duty, which is to be curious. Besides, Pitti Uomo makes all the right moves by bolting on a runway program on top of the fair itself, and its organizers are impressively good at keeping their ear to the ground. This year the highlights of the program were Jil Sander, which is seeing a revival under the auspices of Luke and Lucie Meier, Telfar, the queer fashion cannonball out of New York, and Random Identities, a new venture from Stefano Pilati.

    The Jil Sander label has seen several iterations since Jil herself sold the company to Prada, which promptly ran it into the ground before selling it to the Japanese conglomerate Onward. The Meiers are slowly steering it back to Sander’s ethos of minimalism, recalibrated for today. And today minimalism is hardly viable, so concessions by the brand are made (I almost wrote “must be made,” but I am not convinced by the “must” part) with logoed tees and coats, duly worn by some of the attendees to telegraph… what exactly, I don’t know. Jil herself must be cringing at what is surely an anathema to her ethos. Mercifully, none of the logoed stuff was in the lovely show held at the Santa Maria Novella monastery. Its medieval trappings were serene and so was the collection. The silhouette was loose and appropriately monkish, and so were the details such as tassels and silk collars. It was unquestionably chic. Coincidentally, on my flight two days prior from Paris to Florence, amidst the try-hard peacocks and logoed women sat a Catholic priest, who in his floor-length coat, his floor-length habit, and his jet-black tasseled sash, was undoubtedly the most stylish person on the plane.

    If you can close your eyes on the history of abuse and violence perpetrated by the Catholic church all the way through the 21st Century and look solely at its aesthetic trappings, you will be rewarded. Can you make such a separation? When I read the news and history books, I cannot. When I sit at the Ognissanti church in Florence, or at San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, or at Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice, overwhelmed by their beauty, I can. Such is life, a contradictory mess from which you try to carve out some sense. That’s what also keeps it interesting. Unfortunately, there was no mess in the Jil Sander presentation, and therefore not much sense to be carved out of it. It was all in plain view, easily digestible, beautiful, desirable clothes. The highlight was the voluminous silhouette that was neither over the top hard, nor immediately easy to adapt, with bell-bottomish pants and kimono coats adding a bit of oomph to it. The materials looked appropriately luxurious for Jil Sander, another plus in the industry that has been cutting corner on quality at the speed of a Formula 1 car. Hurray for that. Finally, there is something else to say in the Meiers’ favor is to repeat that our era of immediate and shallow fashion does not make their job of keeping Sander’s minimalist ethos easy by any means, and that they succeed more often than not.

    The next day there were the shows of Telfar and Random Identities. On the surface the pair come from the same queer point of view, but the shows turned out to be the polar opposites. Telfar Clemens staged his at Palazzo Corsini, one of a handful of opulent Florentine palaces, adding Renaissance touches to his streetwear-inflected clothes. As before, the problem with Telfar is that what it stands for – giving perhaps the most disadvantaged group in the US, black queer teenagers, a voice – is worth rooting for, the clothes just don’t deliver. And so it was here, the stuff was too amateur for the runway, too DIY, too homemade to be called fashion with capital “F.” It’s the same problem that plagued Telfar’s predecessor, Hood By Air. One can only hope that Clemens improves as he goes forward."

    Full article on SZ-Mag
    StyleZeitgeist Magazine | Store
  • Jeroenr
    Member
    • May 2016
    • 88

    #2
    I rediscovered Jil Sander lately again and have been buying more and more of the newer collections. Its not all that i like, but i find it perfect wear for in the office. Coat, a pair of pant and shirt and you just look fine in it.

    Comment

    • Nickefuge
      Senior Member
      • Nov 2014
      • 860

      #3
      I’ve been a fan of the new JS ever since the Meiers took over. They also seem to be down-to-earth people, just trying to make nice clothes with nice materials.
      "The only rule is don't be boring and dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in."
      -Paris Hilton

      Comment

      • haydn
        Senior Member
        • Feb 2013
        • 106

        #4
        I wish they’d stop trying to make Telfar happen. This brand is the latest in a long line of failed Vogue / CFDA backed startups pushing for US based emerging labels to be the next big name - and it’s never worked. See; Public School, Hood By Air, Alexander Wang, Rag and Bone. Designers who are probably doing just fine remaining small and independent get thrust almost overnight to the world stage and a platform they don’t yet deserve to show collections that are mediocre at best and then creep back into irrelevancy a year or two later.

        A weak effort on bel half of Pitti Uomo to jump on the gender neutral bandwagon, paring Telfar with Random Identities. The whole thing didn’t seem authentic. Rather than highlighting real talent with a genuine collaboration, like the brilliant Undercover / Soloist shows in 2018, this pairing just reeked of obligation and click-bate.

        Jil Sander was good. I would have enjoyed some of the silhouettes to be tailored a bit closer to the body - but overall this collection is a step in the right direction if they plan to keep this brand alive.

        Comment

        • Faust
          kitsch killer
          • Sep 2006
          • 37852

          #5
          Originally posted by Jeroenr View Post
          I rediscovered Jil Sander lately again and have been buying more and more of the newer collections. Its not all that i like, but i find it perfect wear for in the office. Coat, a pair of pant and shirt and you just look fine in it.
          That's always been the idea of Jil! To stealthily make you the coolest-looking person at the office.
          Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

          StyleZeitgeist Magazine

          Comment

          • Faust
            kitsch killer
            • Sep 2006
            • 37852

            #6
            Originally posted by haydn View Post
            I wish they’d stop trying to make Telfar happen. This brand is the latest in a long line of failed Vogue / CFDA backed startups pushing for US based emerging labels to be the next big name - and it’s never worked. See; Public School, Hood By Air, Alexander Wang, Rag and Bone. Designers who are probably doing just fine remaining small and independent get thrust almost overnight to the world stage and a platform they don’t yet deserve to show collections that are mediocre at best and then creep back into irrelevancy a year or two later.

            A weak effort on bel half of Pitti Uomo to jump on the gender neutral bandwagon, paring Telfar with Random Identities. The whole thing didn’t seem authentic. Rather than highlighting real talent with a genuine collaboration, like the brilliant Undercover / Soloist shows in 2018, this pairing just reeked of obligation and click-bate.

            Jil Sander was good. I would have enjoyed some of the silhouettes to be tailored a bit closer to the body - but overall this collection is a step in the right direction if they plan to keep this brand alive.
            Cosign. New York is so fucking desperate for ANYTHING, that they'll push whatever they can.
            Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

            StyleZeitgeist Magazine

            Comment

            • Ahimsa
              Vegan Police
              • Sep 2011
              • 1879

              #7
              StyleZeitgeist Magazine | Store

              Comment

              • mindreader
                Junior Member
                • Nov 2017
                • 7

                #8
                I can literally hear Regina George's voice! Lol

                Comment

                • Faust
                  kitsch killer
                  • Sep 2006
                  • 37852

                  #9
                  OMG, Ahimsa, I don't know how I missed that, lol.
                  Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                  StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                  Comment

                  • shropshire
                    Junior Member
                    • Mar 2020
                    • 11

                    #10
                    Jil Sander collections are beautiful and look dainty.

                    Comment

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